Town Council Passes Change To Restaurant Tax Discount

By Matthew VanDyke
April 30, 2009

Blacksburg restaurants will receive less of a discount rate for collecting meal's tax. Blacksburg Town Council passed an ordinance Tuesday, during a council meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the Roger E. Hedgepeth Chambers of the Blacksburg Municipal Building, which will reduce the percentage of restaurant's discount rates for collecting meal's tax.

In lieu of budget cuts, the ordinance passed unanimously with a motion made by Tom Sherman and a second by Susan Anderson.

"Nobody is happy with any of these cuts," said Sherman. "None the less, we have less income than last year, so there have to be cuts."

"Within town limits, tax revenues from restaurants are down 7.9 percent," said Leslie Hager-Smith, a councilmember. "After real estate tax, about ten percent of our revenue comes from meal's tax."

"We [need to] make sure we eat at Blacksburg restaurants," said Ron Rordam, mayor of Blacksburg.

The change in discount will take effect on July 1.

The Town Council also passed the budget for the Town of Blacksburg for the Fiscal Year beginning July 1 and ending June 30, 2010. Other ordinances unanimously passed include an increase in fees for water and sewer services, solid waste and recycling services, water meter installation fees, availability and connection fees, and parking violations.

The minutes from the April 14 and April 21 council meetings were unanimously passed with a motion from Tom Sherman and a second from Susan Anderson.

Before adjournment, the council met in closed session in regards to a lawsuit.

The next Town Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m.